The Steele Spoon serves up a dream

Saturday

RAMSEUR — Ramseur's newest restaurant, The Steele Spoon, has opened in the building that formerly housed Sherry's Restaurant, at 190 N.C. 49 N.

But that's not the only connection to Sherry's.

The new owners, Michelle and David Ellefson II, have a direct tie to the previous owner, Sherry Upchurch.

Michelle's mother, Rebecca Alton, worked for Upchurch for 25 years. David, after a stint with the U.S. Marine Corps, served as her grill cook.

Upchurch often joked that David would one day “be running the place.” He'd tease her about, “When you gonna let me buy the place?”

So when Upchurch decided to retire, it seemed only natural that she would pass the torch on to the Ellefsons, believing they would help bring the restaurant “to life.”

That matched perfectly with David's ambition of one day owning his own restaurant.

“I always wanted to own a restaurant, and the opportunity came my way,” David said. “There is no point in sitting around 20 years from now and wondering what could have been. I'm only 30 years old, so why not take a chance?”

Michelle, a Ramseur native and Eastern Randolph High School graduate, concurred. She had long known this was her husband's dream. The pair met in Jacksonville when David, a Michigan native, was enlisted in the U.S. Marines where he was a food specialist.

Preparing meals comes easily to him. His mother was a chef and imparted her strong love of cooking to him when he was yet a small child.

“I've been cooking my entire life. I feel like cooking is a passion,” he added. “It's something I enjoy doing. There is nothing like cooking a good meal and having someone enjoy it.”

He put legs to the dream by obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.

“Why not take a business class and kind of learn the ins and outs of business?” is how he explained it.

On Oct. 3, the talent, passion and timing came together with the opening of The Steele Spoon.

If running a restaurant isn't enough, David also works a separate full-time job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the federal department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry — and his specialty — food.

“The exhaustion (of being a restaurant owner), I feel like it will be worth it in the end,” David said.